Word study
Wound
10 Hebrew and 2 Greek words behind this English word
The original-language words that the Berean Standard Bible translates with one of these: wounded, wounds, wound, wounding. English often uses one word where Hebrew or Greek has several, each with its own shade of meaning. Under each word are verses where it is translated this way; choose the word itself for its full study: every verse, how else it is translated, the forms it takes and what the dictionaries say.
At a glance
How often each original word is translated “wound” or one of its forms.
Compare the Hebrew words side by side Compare the Greek words side by side
Hebrew and Aramaic words (Old Testament)
- מַכָּה makkâhblow, wound, slaughtertranslated this way 17 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H4347Noun · Translated: wounds 9, slaughter 7, wound 7, plagues 4Full study and all 43 verses →
1 Kings 22:35 The battle raged throughout that day, and the king was propped up in his chariot facing the Arameans. And the blood from his wound ran out onto the floor of the chariot, and that evening he died.
2 Kings 8:29 So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.
- פֶּצַע petsabruise, woundtranslated this way 8 times of its 8 uses · Strong’s H6482Noun · Translated: wounds 5, wound 2, wounding 1Full study and all 7 verses →
Genesis 4:23 Then Lamech said to his wives: “Adah and Zillah, hear my voice; wives of Lamech, listen to my speech. For I have slain a man for wounding me, a young man for striking me.
Exodus 21:25 burn for burn, wound for wound, and stripe for stripe.
- חָלָל châlâlpiercedtranslated this way 6 times of its 93 uses · Strong’s H2491Noun · Translated: slain 53, dead 6, killed 6, wounded 5Full study and all 84 verses →
Judges 9:40 but Abimelech pursued him, and Gaal fled before him. And many Shechemites fell wounded all the way to the entrance of the gate.
Job 24:12 From the city, men groan, and the souls of the wounded cry out, yet God charges no one with wrongdoing.
- נָכָה nâkâhsmitetranslated this way 5 times of its 496 uses · Strong’s H5221Verb · Translated: struck 145, strike 59, put 31, defeated 28Full study and all 460 verses →
1 Kings 20:37 Then the prophet found another man and said, “Strike me, please!” So the man struck him and wounded him,
2 Kings 8:28 Then Ahaziah went with Joram son of Ahab to fight against Hazael king of Aram at Ramoth-gilead, and the Arameans wounded Joram.
- חָלָה châlâhbe weak, sicktranslated this way 5 times of its 75 uses · Strong’s H2470Verb · Translated: ill 8, sick 8, grievous 5, sought 4Full study and all 73 verses →
1 Kings 22:34 However, a certain man drew his bow without taking special aim, and he struck the king of Israel between the joints of his armor. So the king said to his charioteer, “Turn around and take me out of the battle, for I am badly wounded!”
2 Kings 8:29 So King Joram returned to Jezreel to recover from the wounds that the Arameans had inflicted on him at Ramah when he fought against Hazael king of Aram. Then Ahaziah son of Jehoram king of Judah went down to Jezreel to visit Joram son of Ahab, because Joram had been wounded.
- שֶׁבֶר sheberbreaking, fracture, crushing, breach, crashtranslated this way 4 times of its 44 uses · Strong’s H7667Noun · Translated: destruction 17, wound 4, brokenness 3, broken 2Full study and all 42 verses →
Jeremiah 6:14 They dress the wound of My people with very little care, saying, ‘Peace, peace,’ when there is no peace at all.
Lamentations 2:13 What can I say for you? To what can I compare you, O Daughter of Jerusalem? To what can I liken you, that I may console you, O Virgin Daughter of Zion? For your wound is as deep as the sea. Who can ever heal you?
- חָלַל châlalbore, piercetranslated this way 3 times of its 138 uses · Strong’s H2490Verb · Translated: began 24, profaned 24, profane 14, defile 10Full study and all 129 verses →
Psalm 109:22 For I am poor and needy; my heart is wounded within me.
Proverbs 26:10 Like an archer who wounds at random is he who hires a fool or passerby.
- פֶּרֶץ peretsbursting forth, breachtranslated this way 2 times of its 16 uses · Strong’s H6556Noun · Translated: breach 4, Like a bursting 2, gap 2, wound 2Full study and all 15 verses →
Job 16:14 He breaks me with wound upon wound; He rushes me like a mighty warrior.
- מָזוֹר mâzôrwoundtranslated this way 2 times of its 3 uses · Strong’s H4205Noun · Translated: wound 2, sores 1Full study and all 2 verses →
Hosea 5:13 When Ephraim saw his sickness and Judah his wound, then Ephraim turned to Assyria and sent to the great king. But he cannot cure you or heal your wound.
- חוּל chûlwhirl, dance, writhetranslated this way 2 times of its 58 uses · Strong’s H2342Verb · Translated: brought forth 6, tremble 5, labor 3, waited 2Full study and all 55 verses →
1 Samuel 31:3 When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him critically.
1 Chronicles 10:3 When the battle intensified against Saul, the archers overtook him and wounded him.
Greek words (New Testament)
- πληγή plēgḗa blow, stripe, woundtranslated this way 4 times of its 20 uses · Strong’s G4127Noun · Translated: plagues 10, beatings 2, plague 2, wound 2Full study and all 20 verses →
Acts 16:33 At that hour of the night, the jailer took them and washed their wounds. And without delay, he and all his household were baptized.
Revelation 13:3 One of the heads of the beast appeared to have been mortally wounded. But the mortal wound was healed, and the whole world marveled and followed the beast.
- τραυματίζω traumatízōI woundtranslated this way 2 times of its 2 uses · Strong’s G5135Verb · Translated: wounded 2Full study and all 2 verses →
Luke 20:12 Then he sent a third, but they wounded him and threw him out.
Acts 19:16 Then the man with the evil spirit jumped on them and overpowered them all. The attack was so violent that they ran out of the house naked and wounded.
How to study a word well
- Start from the verse, not the dictionary. Find which Hebrew or Greek word stands in the verse you are studying. One English word often translates several different original words.
- Read every place the word is used. A word means what its writers used it to mean. The list of verses and the count by book show its range, and who uses it most.
- Look at how it is translated. A word rendered five different ways has a wider meaning than any one English word can carry.
- Notice the form. A command is not a statement, and a passive verb is something done to the subject. The form in your verse is part of the meaning.
- See what it keeps company with. The words that appear beside it again and again show how the Bible itself connects ideas.
- Then read the dictionaries. They give the considered view of scholars, with their evidence.
- Come back to the verse. Context decides. A word does not carry every one of its meanings into every verse, and where a word came from does not settle what it means in a sentence written centuries later.
Scripture text and translation counts: Berean Standard Bible. Full entry: Brown, Driver and Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament (1906, public domain), in the digital edition Brown-Driver-Briggs Enhanced by unfoldingWord (Joel Ruark, J. de Joode), based on data by Eliran Wong and Stephen Ku; its additions are used under CC BY 4.0. Strong’s Hebrew Dictionary: Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible Project, CC BY 4.0. Hebrew-to-English verse numbering: original work of the Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible available at https://github.com/openscriptures/morphhb, CC BY 4.0. We reformatted the data, linked the references to this site’s Bible text and left out words in other scripts that the source holds only as images. These are historical reference works; an entry gives its authors’ view, and a word’s meaning in any verse depends on how it is used there.